Part 1: The Sparsity of the Raven Household
The dining table was laden with earthenware tankards full of beer, stewed large trout seasoned with generous amounts of chili powder, wild beefsteaks with sweet carrots on the platter, black bread, wild strawberries drizzled with three kinds of cheese, honey, and sour yogurt, potatoes covered in warm milk, and baked butter pie with apples.
For the Raven Lord and the Princess, this counted as a modest, common meal. But in the Mont family, which valued hard-line pragmatism, the food was sufficient as long as it was tasty and filling. Extravagance was not the Raven style.
Since the Raven Duchy was handed to Mont Mentiel eight years ago, he had been an exceptionally low-profile National Lord. His sole focus was on developing his domain. The old ministers left by his father had provided excellent support. The Chancellor, Jin Xuanhan, though an "elderly" man in his forties, was actually at his peak of vigor and backed by a robust network of house vassals. This was the main reason Mont Mentiel dared to contend for the Imperial Throne.
Mont Angelina's visit to Prime Lake City this time was specifically to deliver a message from the Chancellor.
The Chancellor's letter detailed the Duchy's recent work. Most crucially, per Mont Mentiel's orders, the Raven Duchy Army had completed a high-level inspection and entered a combat-ready state. The Duchy's forces—seven thousand infantry-cavalry and five thousand heavy cavalry—were ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
The domestic reserves could mobilize an additional fifty thousand men at any time. This was the cumulative strength the Raven Duchy had built up over the years.
To ensure the integrity of his army, Mont Mentiel had deliberately wasted no resources on meaningless battles. In past years, when Raven was summoned to send troops by Imperial decree, their army was often viewed by other Duchies as soft-bellied, incapable of tough fighting, and repeatedly defeated, leading no commander to dare entrust the Raven Army with important missions.
The moment Mont Mentiel received the dying Emperor's command for the Elector Lords to proceed to the capital, he ordered his army into a state of combat readiness to anticipate every possible scenario. Now, the situation in Prime Lake City was escalating into high tension. Dragon Fang was the first Duchy to send troops into the capital, mobilizing its combat-ready forces simultaneously with Raven. The Silver Wolf Army soon followed suit, and its troops were now entering the city.
This provided Raven with a legitimate reason to send its own troops into the capital. Mont Mentiel's first contingent of one thousand men had already arrived, and a total of five thousand elites would soon be stationed in Prime Lake City.
Only the Black Sheep and Bronze Sparrow Duchies were mobilizing the latest; their armies had yet to reach readiness.
After the standoff between the Imperial Guard and Dragon Fang on the street, the massive troop mobilization by both sides became an open secret. The Imperial Guard was controlled by the Dipper Aureus Duke. In fact, most of the Imperial Central Army were his confidantes—the core reason why Mont Mentiel would always closely align himself with the Duke.
If the Elector's Assembly truly resulted in a four-to-one vote—meaning Black Sheep Lord Cheng Mubai had defected—how would the Dipper Aureus Duke respond to this worst-case scenario?
Believing the result of the Elector's Assembly to be sacrosanct? Only those who had read too many fairy tales would maintain such a thought. An Imperial Prince who held military power, a regicide who had already crossed the ethical red line in his heart, had no path back. He would not hesitate for a second to launch a civil war, bearing all the ignominy.
If the Empire was destined to descend into civil war, which side's allegiance would yield the greatest benefit?
Mont Mentiel chose the Dipper Aureus Duke without hesitation. This minimum level of statecraft calculation was beyond doubt.
Therefore, if truly necessary, Mont Mentiel would not hesitate to manipulate the three-to-two situation into a four-to-one, forcing the Dipper Aureus Duke into the position of the inevitable civil war aggressor. This, conversely, would yield Mont Mentiel the maximum return on his investment.
And right now, a tremendous opportunity was presenting itself.